Is It Really OK to Treat Devs The Way We Do?

Earlier this month, David Gaider, Lead Writer of the Dragon Age series, wrote about why he avoids the BioWare Social Network and other such “toxic environments,” saying that “spending too much time there starts to make me feel negative — not just about the games we make, but about myself and life in general. That’s not a good feeling to have.”

There was something profound about Gaider’s words — a reminder that, behind the marketing and the PR and the faceless game studio label, developers are human beings. Is it ever okay to treat a fellow human being the way we treat game developers that disappoint us?

Let’s take Blizzard and BioWare as recent examples of developers that have had an immeasurable amount of hate spewed in their direction. Many people would state that these studios brought this wrath down upon themselves, and that they deserve to stew in the mess they made. I won’t deny that there’s validity to that argument — both of these companies were worshiped until they released titles that simply weren’t up to their former standards, then handled PR with fans in a, shall we say, less than desirable fashion. It’s perfectly legitimate and understandable that passionate fans would have a passionate reaction to this.

But does that give us carte blanche to tell developers anything we want, regardless of how scathing, derogatory, or threatening it is?

These developers are human beings who are just trying to make a living to feed their families. They don’t wake up in the morning with the evil intentions of destroying everything we love — they’re genuinely trying to do a good job, because they want their game to succeed. Do they make mistakes? Absolutely — huge ones. But is incompetence reason enough to justify a flood of comments so negative that they could induce depression in an otherwise healthy person?

Worse yet is the fact that most of the people affected had little to do with the decisions that led to our disappointment. Every programmer, animator, and technical artist that poured months and years of their lives into creating something that they were likely proud of before release is also affected by our scathing comments made toward the company as a whole. Hell, even lead developers are often at the mercy of their publishers and can be forced into making design decisions they disagree with (*cough* unnecessary multiplayer component *cough*).

There’s a fine line between criticism and cyber bullying, and that line is crossed when we start making people feel negative “about [themselves] and life in general.” We have a right to be angry at developers, and we have a right to express exactly how they failed us; but when we start treating these people as though they committed some heinous crime, we need to take a step back and evaluate whether we would want to be treated that way if we screwed up at our job.

Join the Conversation

* required field

By submitting a comment here you grant GameFront a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. Inappropriate or irrelevant comments will be removed at an admin's discretion.

44 Comments on Is It Really OK to Treat Devs The Way We Do?

beema

On January 29, 2013 at 9:20 am

I think it depends on the “treatment” in question. If it’s something like personal attacks on individuals, then no, that is not acceptable at all. However, lambasting a company for making an inferior/disappointing/ludicrous product is perfectly fine. If someone does a ty job, they should be called out on it.

If I hate about a game studio or a game then my hate goes towards the people who were responisble for the outcome of the game and that is in my mind never the developer who programmed the game or the designer who made textures for character for xyz. No I make the decision maker responsible for this, I make those responsible who told the lead designer to do something just because it would speak to a broader audience and generates more money. I make those responsible who made the actual design decisions for the game, not those who actually produced the content, most of the time they do a great job. Its the overall thing that is wrong and the overall thing is managed by diffrent people. The executives who don’t actually produce content but those who make the counting decisions.
If in his case he was soley responsible for every bit of story in Mass Effect then well, he has to deal with the hatred but it shouldn’t suprise him, he has an extremly important role and I don’t think hatred goes towards him as a person but the hatred is an expression of frustration by the fans and that should be expected all the time when you make a game of this size and popularity.

beema is correct, its not like we’re questioning their performance in the bedroom with their wife or other schoolyard level crap. When someone doesn’t strive to be the best or put out the best product they can, they deserve every criticism people can justify in relation to that product as in the case of Mass Effect 3 or Diablo 3. In someone who strives to be successful, they would use those criticisms to push themselves to be better next time, not cry like a .

gasmaskangel

On January 29, 2013 at 9:43 am

Well said. Interestingly enough, you don’t often hear anyone saying you have the right to criticize something so long as you remain civil about it. Every argument seems to break down to either “you can never criticize anything ever because I’m so insecure that any disagreement with my opinions threatens me” or “I’LL KILL YOU AND YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY BECAUSE OF THIS GAME!!!”

The lack of middle ground disturbs me, and I seem to notice it in every gaming argument recently.

Wishing cancer and other nonsense like that is wrong, obviously (although not that obvious to some peoples)…

But telling them how bad their game is, definitely… Sometimes, you need to hit the nail longer and harder to make them understand that we don’t want what they did anymore…
At best, they’ll fix their mistakes… At least, we can hope they’ll learn from it and don’t do it anymore…

Kakyo01

On January 29, 2013 at 10:26 am

pointing out flaws in the product (the product we paid for) is our right…

spitting out threats towards the devs is wrong

we bought a product based on the advertisement. if we notice that the product can’t hold up to the things the developers promised us we should have any right to hold them responsible for it (politely)

In most cases, it’s just the fan making the Dev feel like they feel after playing their game. If they feel cheated, robbed. They want to make the Dev feel their pain, and in my opinion, rightfully so. Look a Bioware. How they responded to the critisism. They gave their fans the middle finger. So can you honestly say they don’t get everything they deserve.
Granted some of the lower tier devs, who are just following orders, get burned just a tad too much. I can’t help but laugh when I hear people say “well they should have quit then, vs working on that game.” Give me a break. Jobs are hard enough to come by to pull a stupid stunt like that. No, those in charge get what they deserve (most times). Lower tiers get probably too much grief.

@TheDog: Are you seriously saying that Bioware deserved all the hatred that got spewed their way after Mass Effect 3 / Dragon Age 2? One of their writers was viciously harassed by a multiple of online people. Is that really ‘what they deserve?’

If you want to criticize someone’s work in a constructive (or at least civilized) way, I’m all for it. Heck, Phil and Ross have done so on numerous occasions with regard to ME3. It’s useful for our industry precisely because it’s constructive. Phil took Far Cry 3′s narrative to task, but he never stooped to calling names ot making threats.

Civilized discourse is the bridge to improving the hobby that we all share. A developer who gets threats, foul language, and hatred spewed their way won’t want to hear any more “feedback,’ but constructive criticism handled correctly could net the changes you seek.

The only thing not acceptable are personal threats, everything else is just an opinion. Freedom of speech and allows us to express our opinions and consumer rights allow us to complain if we are dissatisfied.

If any developers wish to avoid the wrath of customers, then they need to stop the publishers overselling their products, it is half the problem. They embellish feature lists like the importance of player actions (Insert selling point here) when they rightly know it is not true, but publishers are interested in short term profit not long term sustainability.

At the end of the day if you are in a profession that sells any kind of product you will be open to hate from dissatisfied customers, it is part and parcel of business.

During the substantial amount of time that I have spent on the BSN, I always tried to keep my comments leveled at the game or perhaps the general behavior of the company. I figure that those responsible know who they are without me having to call them out. Sure, some people took it too far, but I also saw a lot of people being quite civil with their comments. And, it can be difficult not to be over-zealous when very legitimate complaints get dismissed as coming from “haters” or when an obviously bad situation is given a PR spin rather than addressed directly. To some extent, I do feel for them on a personal level since it’s never easy to be criticized, and it isn’t right to be attacked over something like this. But at the same time, much of the commentary from their end makes it seem like they don’t realize that most are criticizing out of a love for the company and a desire to see it do better for itself when it hasn’t been performing up to its own standards. It’s easy to keep going when everyone lavishes you with praise, but when things aren’t going so well, you have to sift through the complaints, find the civil and thought-out ones, and really look at them.

R.J., you’re right. Devs should look for the civil comments and give them the attention they deserve. Unfortunately, I think that sometimes commenters get tarred with that same brush because of the bad commenters, and then devs just stop interacting. That’s bad for everyone involved.

and the form : staying within the formal limits of not threatening, harassing or public denunciation

the first is the inalienable right of all customer on a product made for public consumption. The second is a measure of maturity and common respect – and should, if taken beyond a certain degree, which would be non-legal in face to face speech, be edited down or even punishable.

Does ME-3 get better by a iota just because a criticism was rude ? no, it does not. And refusing the criticism on the base of the form it was written in is vain, self-congratulatory and self-defeating,

On the other hand – voicing vile threats seems to do little to alleviate the problem of badly programmed games

and the form : staying within the formal limits of not threatening, harassing or public denunciation

the first is the inalienable right of all customer on a product made for public consumption. The second is a measure of maturity and common respect – and should, if taken beyond a certain degree, which would be non-legal in face to face speech, be edited down or even punishable.

Does ME-3 get better by a iota just because a criticism was rude ? no, it does not. And refusing the criticism on the base of the form it was written in is vain, self-congratulatory and self-defeating,

On the hand, uttering vile threats does not really help making the programmers work with more care

Ron Whitaker@ Gee Ron, was it ok for them to give their fans the middle finger in response to our compaints? or tell us we are wrong. That we just don’t understand their BS?
And for the record, I didn’t say everyone deserved it. Just those at the top that actually made the decision to turn the game to pure cr-p. There were plenty of people that had no choice in what they did. They simply did as they were told.
Tell you one thing. If someone gives me the finger in real life. I’m sure as spit going to tell them where they can put that finger. Most people will.
Also for the record. I’ve never been abusive or disrespectfull to any dev. But that doesn’t mean I wont tell them what I think of their game. I personally will usually choose to be a little more tackfull and less crass. But people like Casey Hudson. Yeah they deserve it all ( well minus the threats and such. That’s way to much. But the harsh words and comparisons to certain body part or functions,….. yeah).

As usual, (most) of he commenters above me have made logical statements about the topic at hand (thank you Gamefront staff and readers).

I think the basic understanding that everyone here can agree on ist that insulting or harassing another human being for failing to deliver a product they promised to deliver is not the way one should voice their anger and dissappointment. That kind of behavior should neither be tolerated nor endorsed.
I cannot speak to the number and severity of personal attacks via twitter or otherwise. However, during my time on the BWF, I found most of the members’ comments there to be of the passionate, but respectful kind, and it was the way the BW forum managers reacted to reasonable questions that really infuriated me.
They were simply incapapable of answering direct questions. This ignorance to the plight of the fans felt like a gigantic insult, as they simply refused to acknowledge their demand for answers.
I clearly remember one thread that pertained to the botched up endings, and naturally everbody in it was complainig about them. Then the moderator shows up and says: “We know that you are disappointed with the endings, and trust us, we are listening. But while we do that, let’s talk about what you liked about the game. What were your favorite moments?”
Of course I’m paraphrasing here, but that was basically what he said.
All I could think was: “Are you f****** kidding me?”

Again: Insults and harassment are inexcusable!

However, if you pay good money for a game that not only doesn’t deliver what it promised, but (in my case at least) retroactively destroys all the emotional involvement and replayability of the previous two installments, and whose creators then proceed to insult their enraged fanbase by ignoring their complaints and trying to wait out the storm, then yes, I do believe they deserve to be criticised and held accountable.

When said developer flat-out lies to its fanbase, throws them the middle finger then releases some half-arsed bullmuck DLC that doesn’t address the main issues in any meaningful way while trying to spin it as somehow being amazing consumer service, then yes. These people deserve the utmost professional and creative criticism because they’ve shown that they lack the respect to keep their promises and to credit their customers with any intelligence whatsoever. Some people will go too far with the death threats and stuff, but they’re an extreme minority. More worrying are the diehard apologists who are simply enabling these delusional spivs to make the same horrific decisions again and again.

I have no sympathy for Casey Hudson or Mac Walters, they are hacks of the highest order. I feel some sympathy for everyone beneath them who didn’t get their say on the ending, but then again I still wonder why they said nothing about it until months after the fact.

Heres the thing. We are all paying customers who purchase a product that has to be worth the 60 dollar price tag. Movies for example cost less than 20 dollars for 2 hours of entertainment. But developers of movies unlike games don’t have us invested into countless of hours we put in games. Now before the internet boom games were appreciated from all companies. As for me the best consoles that ever were released were the Super Nes and the Playstation one.

Now we gamers feel like games have been getting worse and companies only care about how much money they can get from the consumer. Whether its by taking content out of the game to sell it later as DLC, buying locked content and rebuying old classics because they decided to remove backwards compatability on their machines.

I believe that everyone who is in the game industry right now are the wrong people. It all boils down to everything being corporate. They dont care about developing good games because if they did the whole mass effect 3 fiasco would no have happened if the developers voiced there opinions on the ending and how it didnt work. As for blizzard remember playing all 3 campaigns on a single disc. Now the split it up into separate games which I will not pay for.

I think we are in the final days of gaming. When these 2 new consoles are unveiled theres going to be a hellstorm of angry customers all over the internet.

pooleboy87

On January 29, 2013 at 5:39 pm

I think the problem with criticizing devs is that it’s who we as players/fans tend to have the most contact/connection with, but they’re usually (and I’m going to make an assumption here) the wrong ones to send the messages to. The Devs, to me, aren’t the ones that cause situations like Mass Effect 3, and Dragon Age. They’re just attempting to put the best product out that they can, while still fulfilling the obligations required of them by their bosses.

Devs are kinda stuck in the middle of a really crappy situation. People can blame them for all of the things if they want to, but I have a hard time believing that most devs don’t care as much, if not MORE, for the games they make than most of the people playing them. I’m more than willing to bet that most devs would spend a lot more time crafting their products if they were given the opportunity. But they’re not.

I mean, I feel like sep is a perfect example of what I’m saying. Yes, the things that you listed are really annoying to me. But do you believe that the average dev working on those games were the ones who thought them up? Who’s more likely to want day one DLC and micro-transactions…the devs or the CEO?

Yet so much hatred goes their way because we have access to devs, but not to John Riccitiello.

Roy Batty

On January 29, 2013 at 6:01 pm

@Ron Whitaker

Perhaps in that case the forums need better governance where users get to a “trusted” level this would allow the devs to ignore the low end hate posters (who are unable to deal with their emotions) as simply noise.

I agree with RJ I did see a lot of civility especially when Bioware asked for feedback from the fans (most replies had “thank you” in them.

As far as someone who has poured their passion into their work…I do this on a daily basis and yes our engineering gets rejected often times for stupid reasons. But we are trying to meet our customer’s needs and we will ultimately do what they want us to do (while trying to stop them from committing operational seppuku).

Also when I screw up I don’t get pissed at my critics I get pissed at myself. In his book “Failure is not an option” Gene Kranz wrote of the Apollo 1 fire “…Not one of us stood up and said DAMMIT STOP!” this was from a speech which is now NASA legend…it was a scathing self assessment on how they had all failed from top to bottom.

For ME3 I had a bigger beef with the idiotic critical reviews and the equally idiotic response from Casey than I did the idiotic ending. (The conversation with reaper-boy was like listening to Heinrich Himmler explaining himself [had he not committed suicide]…it was a painful). Oddly enough I forgave (during gameplay) many of the plot-holes that others got into twist about.

I think a major part of the problem was that the “legitimate critics” failed in their reviews and thus left it up to the fans where passions ran high. Perhaps if the major review outlets had done their jobs there would have been a better discourse. It also speaks at how detached Bioware had become from their fanbase.

Kevin

On January 29, 2013 at 7:44 pm

I’ve normally had a pretty good run of getting able to talk to devs in the MMOs I play. Heck, they would even come to our vent channels, talk to us on steam, etc. I’ve found that if you continue making civil points, they will respond, and they will tell you even if they didn’t respond in that thread, they looked at what you wrote.

Like all things in life, it is good to remember that this developer is a father/mother, a spouse, a child of a parent, just like you. In the end just don’t be a d-bag.

The only problem is, this kind of advice will most fall on deaf ears. Gamefront (and I mean this seriously) tends to get more grown up thinkers in the comboxes. A lot of these people at the BSN really are the bottom of the evolutionary ladder.

Valid argument, but I still ask if it’s ok for publishers to treat theory customers the way they do. I don’t mean anything as simple as “waaaa they made a bad game”. I mean most developers and publishers operate under the belief that the people who complain the most are the same people that will buy their games no matter what. They in essence feel that they own their fanbase. Why was DA2 half finished when it was released? Because they didn’t feel the need to complete it. I’m not just being snarky, they knew everyone who liked DA was gonna buy it and would probably buy DA3 regardless of how much they complaied about 2. It feels like gamers have a demographic-wide case of battered woman syndrome and the publishers realize it.

Nick L. O'Dion

On January 30, 2013 at 3:54 am

Tommy B Rude – too right. Gamers have to be the most masochistic, apologetic, obedient and accepting fanbase for any entertainment industry aside maybe from professional wrestling. One of the best examples I’ve read was when some idiot tried to spin Treyarch pulling the “24/7 365 days a year” Nuketown DLC after only five days then putting it back on after the massive backlash it received as a “courtesy”. More examples can be found around this site, mostly on any article relating to Mass Effect 3 (‘magnetite’ being one of the most hilariously out-of-kilter examples in recent weeks). Until fanboys get it into their heads that they’re not the only people who paid for the game, that those who have genuine grievances have every right to expect to be able to air them in a mature environment, and that constructive criticism is to be ENCOURAGED to drive the industry forward, videogames will remain stagnant, static cash cows for a small elite of con artists and liars.

@TheDog – I think we’re on the same page here. I’m all for criticizing the design decisions made in a game, or the problems with a narrative, or whatever (Just look around – we do it on GameFront all the time). CJ’s article here is more about the people that make the death threats, the threatening statements, the sexist comments, and the other things that we’re both obviously not in favor of.

I even felt bad for those Bioware forum moderators. I know that there was someone leaning on them saying things like “We need to turn this discussion around and make it more positive. GET ON IT.” Those moderators probably knew it was a lost cause, but they had to do as they were told.

@Roy Batty – I agree. I think your idea for an ‘exclusive’ forum is a great one. It shouldn’t be for people who’ve pre-ordered the game, or bought some special DLC. It should be for those forum members who’ve distinguished themselves as civil, forthright commenters. That would allow the devs to get the constructive feedback they desperately need without having the entire process colored by the vocal minority.

Of course, the devs would control the access to said forum, so there would be nothing stopping them from only allowing folks in there that praise the game. That’s the nature of that beast.

As far as the critical reviews of the game, I thought Ross and Phil kind of nailed it. ME3 was a pretty good game most of the way through, but the ending colored the whole experience. I thought their coverage of the game, including all the discussion surrounding the ending, was phenomenal.

Games companies love to talk to us before a game comes out. Social media links all over their websites, almost daily updates, like us be our friend, then the game comes out and they don’t want to talk anymore? I’m not saying harassment is justified at all, where I’m from that is a serious crime and even on the internet should be treated as such, but if you put out a bad/unfinished/untested game that you charge people a not insignificant amount of money for then expect some strong words from all those people you wanted to talk to so much (preorders) the week before.

Freedonad

On January 30, 2013 at 7:28 am

Ok this is going to be a little long.

While I’m not a game developer, I do work as a Programmer for a major company (we have contracts with the Government too), so I believe I’m in a closer position to these aforementioned devs. I say this because I too have to deal with a daily amount of cr*p from above. Have to deal with moronic decisions made by clients who know next to nothing about Software development or systems (the aforementioned government is guilty as charged as well, and it’s the fricking GOVERNMENT for christsake).

And to further clarify the point, I do make myself vocal about these stupid decisions despite my low-rank position. I call out when something is going to break further down the road, or when fickle decisions is going to be un-made at the same whin it was made. But do you think that’s enough? It is not. My voice mostly goes unheard or dismissed. Those who aknowledge my heeds are usually in the same position as myself, with no real recourse but to counsel against bad decisions, hoping they see the light. As I’m frequently told whenever I try to oppose a stupid Idea: “Beggars can’t be choosers, payers can’t be losers”.

I understand that a Software Engineering company isn’t the same. Deadlines are different, requirements are different, clients are different, etc. But Hierarchy is not. Accountability is not. I get called out whenever a system flops and bugs happens, despite my repeated warnings.

Also, I’m not trying to be apologetic, or denying any customer rights. I’m just saying that I kinda relate to the devs, even when I despise EA and the likes as much as the next fellow. In fact, I despise even more because they remind me of the crappy clients I get every so often.

Eagle

On January 30, 2013 at 7:42 am

Freedonad – I feel your pain. There’s nothing more frustrating than knowing something’s about to fail whilst being in a position of impotence, then taking the blame afterwards. It happened to Paul Heyman after ECW December to Dismember (a WWE pay-per-view). He said all the way through that it was going to go down like a cup of cold sick, that it would alienate everyone and that it wouldn’t make a dime, but he was forced into a corner. After it failed miserably, he was fired and blamed for the failure by an astonished Vince McMahon.

The hatred should be directed at those who make the calls, not those who are forced to go along with it. That said, it would be nice to see someone actively warning people publicly on one occasion that the product they’re about to purchase isn’t going to meet expectations and there’s nothing they’re capable of doing to fix that. They may lose their jobs, but they’d be so well respected by the community and independent developers for their integrity that they probably wouldn’t be out of work for very long. I’m not suggesting you do that, I’d just like to see it happen one day instead of hearing people crawl out of the woodwork after the dye’s been cast and a negative consensus has already been reached saying they knew all along it was going to fail (again, not saying you’re like that, just that it happens a lot).

Still, the main problem is fanboys. As long as there’s a large audience of people who preorder on the first day, buy all the DLC without hesitation and shoot down any other paying customer who even slightly opposes one or many elements of a product as ‘entitled’, developers and publishers will continue to do this.

Wesker1984 – we know all too well you’re proud to be a fanboy. What exactly you take pride in is a mystery, since fanboys of any industry are universally acknowledged to be blinkered iand incapable of accepting criticism of their chosen subject regardless how much substance said criticism contains. Being a ‘fan’ is very different from being a ‘fanboy’.

of course it is ok, they’re creating games that we buy to have fun.
they must understand that sometimes we need to criticize them for doing something wrong then if we don’t they will continue make bad games.

The buck stops with someone and it’s they who get the majority of our ire. You’ll never hear a bunch of gamers pissing and moaning about the guy who programmed Random Enemy 132′s cover-AI because even if that enemy’s ability to use cover is bugged, someone let that get passed on to the final product with a wink a nod or a shrug. Someone greenlit the abortion that was passed onto us and it is they who our wrath is directed at. As you rightly point out, it isn’t (and should never be) Random Programmer 37 that people are mad at, because that isn’t the person who is saying “Screw it, good enough” and punting crappy products down the line.

It isn’t Random-Programmer 37′s fault that there’s an awful multiplayer system unnecessarily implemented, it’s the fault of people like David Gaider. We know these people’s names because they’re the ones responsible for this kind of crap. They’re the ones we sling mud at because they’re with whom the decisions are made, and if they want those positions of responsibility and authority then they’d better be ready to answer for their choices.

So quite frankly, screw them. If you want to be in a position of supreme authority, you’d better make the right decisions for the right reasons. Otherwise, toughen the hell up and get used to criticism.

Oats

On February 1, 2013 at 6:59 am

MPSewell – I haven’t always agreed with you but you’re right on this. Developers need to accept that they’re going to face criticism, some of it is going to be reasonable and some of it is going to be unreasonable. It’s inevitable. If they can’t accept that, they shouldn’t be making consumer goods.

In my case the problem come with the fact that everyone here are in a ”mad mode” against everything EA/Bioware do now.

After 10 months it had become a true pain in arsh! It just a game for god sake. You are all stuck in a orgy of pure useless comments and articles.

Hunter

On February 2, 2013 at 11:46 pm

It is ok to give developers the hate they get.. With Dragon Age 2 for example, they knew damn well they were going to get a LOT of hate for that title, because of the true fans of Dragon Age: Origins.. With DA2 they just tried to simplify the game and make it appeal to a broader audience by making it more hack and slash and less RPG. They expected all the hate they got, and deserved it.

If it is truly that painful for you, then why do you stick around? EA has done plenty to get people angry, and they keep doing things that people don’t like with pretty much every game they release. Telling people to “get over it” is exactly what they want so that people will keep buying their games. If people just let things go, it sends a message that it’s ok to keep doing things like rushing a final product or putting microtransactions in a $60 game because they get away with it. The same is true of many companies, it’s just that EA tends to be more flagrant about it.

Consider this: would people still be upset about ME3 after 10 months if they didn’t care about it? The people still complaining LOVED Bioware and the games it has made, and ever since Dragon Age 2, they feel like the company isn’t performing to its own standards. That kind of dedication doesn’t happen if somebody is just a “hater.” Given how many prominent staff members that worked for the company for years have left Bioware in the last few years, it’s pretty obvious that something isn’t right.

Wet One

On February 3, 2013 at 2:26 am

R.J. – it’s pointless trying to enter legitimate discussion with HellBlazer, he’s just one of the house trolls who keeps coming back for more punishment despite offering nothing of substance and knowing damn well he isn’t going to like what he reads. Same as lol, magnetite and Wesker1984. They claim they hate the site and what it represents, yet they keep returning. It’s beyond childish.

Is it really ok for Developers to treat fans the way they do?
A better question. Is it ok for Publishers to treat developers and fans the way they do?
I am looking at you EA.

Bruce

On February 3, 2013 at 10:24 pm

How about restructuring the PR department (cough, don’t let them do anything but advertisement, cough)?

The point of this article is letting consumers see into the minds of developers they don’t normally get to… how about they stop the bull and PR censorship and just talk to their damn fans then? I hated the original ME3 ending, and since I was somewhat in the loop, blamed the writers, Mac Walters specifically (along with EA of course), as opposed to just Bioware. When that hit the fan, those peoples twitter feed went silent. No communication, no explanation, no reason to separate the writers from the coders. I’m not trying to justify great coders throwing bad writers under the bus, but if we should care about these people, we should be able to talk to them. These companies brought this on themselves by cutting that connection!

The best serving of video game culture, since 2001. Whether you're looking for news, reviews, walkthroughs, or the biggest collection of PC gaming files on the planet, Game Front has you covered. We also make no illusions about gaming: it's supposed to be fun. Browse gaming galleries, humor lists, and honest, short-form reporting. Game on!